Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate it | {Insert Appropriate Seasonal Greeting Here}

[kihei]

^^^°°°
Fair enough. For what it's worth, my faves are Pale Fire and Speak, Memory

 

[Spring in Fialta]

^^^°°°
Fair enough. For what it's worth, my faves are Pale Fire and Speak, Memory

I haven't read Pale Fire but Speak, Memory at its peak is the best piece of non-fiction (in so far as you it may be non-fiction lol) I've ever read.

 

[The Macho King]

Watched Fallen Angels.

Wong Kar-Wai just makes cool f***ing movies man. Loved all the little winks at Chungking Express. Preferred the mute storyline to the assassin, but both were great. I've seen 4 of his films now and absolutely adore 3 of them (As Tears Go By is pretty middling imo). This guy just... idk from a technical perspective he does some weird shit with framing, when to go handheld, when to go with wide angle lenses and stuff, which could all easily be distracting but instead just pulls me in. He may have the best ear for music in creating his soundtracks. Just a wonderful film. Probably at the bottom of the three I loved (In the Mood For Love/Chungking Express can Duke it out for #1).

8/10

I never thought in a million years I would ever wake in here and find myself reading Kubrick's Lolita slander.

As a big fan of Nabokov (my username is based on a short story of his, which is the one of the greatest works for all-time all artforms included) I think Kubrick's adaptation is a top-5 all-time film, the most perfect example of how novels should be adapted for the screen and I find it more satisfying than the book.

If it's of any merit, Nabokov himself (who didn't give a damn about movies and saw his own contributions to the film pretty much tossed out the window yet described by Kubrick as the greatest screenplay ever written) thought the movie was fantastic.

Never said it was bad. Said it fell short in translating all of the complexity and nuance of the book, and instead came across as almost broad. I don't think there's a better way to adapt it, but just that the adaptation is lesser than the source material.

Never thought that was a controversial opinion honestly.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Watched Fallen Angels.

Wong Kar-Wai just makes cool f***ing movies man. Loved all the little winks at Chungking Express. Preferred the mute storyline to the assassin, but both were great. I've seen 4 of his films now and absolutely adore 3 of them (As Tears Go By is pretty middling imo). This guy just... idk from a technical perspective he does some weird shit with framing, when to go handheld, when to go with wide angle lenses and stuff, which could all easily be distracting but instead just pulls me in. He may have the best ear for music in creating his soundtracks. Just a wonderful film. Probably at the bottom of the three I loved (In the Mood For Love/Chungking Express can Duke it out for #1).

8/10


Never said it was bad. Said it fell short in translating all of the complexity and nuance of the book, and instead came across as almost broad. I don't think there's a better way to adapt it, but just that the adaptation is lesser than the source material.

Never thought that was a controversial opinion honestly.

It's not at all, I'm the outlier. I was just being funny. It's pretty much a forgotten film at this point, especially compared to his others. I just find it perfect and criminally underrated.

Fallen Angels is probably my favorite Wong-Kar Wai film as well lol

 

[The Macho King]

It's not at all, I'm the outlier. I was just being funny. It's pretty much a forgotten film at this point, especially compared to his others. I just find it perfect and criminally underrated.

Fallen Angels is probably my favorite Wong-Kar Wai film as well lol

I need to rewatch Chungking Express again nut I need to see Days of Being Wild and Happy Together soon too, so prioritizing is tough.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I need to rewatch Chungking Express again nut I need to see Days of Being Wild and Happy Together soon too, so prioritizing is tough.

Haven't watched Happy Together but Days of Being Wild is fantastic

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Haven't watched Happy Together but Days of Being Wild is fantastic

Days of Being Wild is the only one of WKW's movies that I really bumped on. (Not counting the widely disliked My Blueberry Nights, of course). But the fact that that didn't work for me for some reason only makes we want to go back to it all the more. Did it just catch me on a bad day? Is it me? Is it it? My notes from my viewing are light on specifics.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Challengers (2024) Directed by Luca Guadagnino 4A

As a tennis player (well, former tennis player) you might think i would look forward to movies with tennis backstories, but I don't. There are usually two of me watching the film at the same time. The tennis me is picking out all the flaws, especially in the actual tennis playing. The only movie that I have ever seen that gets the tennis right is King Richard, so it is a rare occurrence indeed. Challengers does a better job than most at this but still falls well short of being convincing. To make matters far worse, the effort at tennis realism is compromised even more egregiously by the excessively loud sound of tennis balls virtually exploding every time that they are struck and by the exaggerated effort the players display when striking the ball, like pit bulls straining on a leash. This gets annoying very fast, and not just on the ear drums. The rest of the movie is about a tennis menage a trois told in a constant mishmash of flashbacks (Guadagnino's exertions only made me recall how infinitely better Alain Resnais was at this sort of thing). But I enjoyed the story part of the way. Our threesome has an early meeting on a beach that crackles with nascent desire and demonstrates how emotionally disconcerting those initial feelings can be. But, then, I really hated the last third of the movie. In fact, I would say that Challengers is the most overdirected movie that I have seen in years.

For starters, the tennis player in me couldn't believe the central premise of the rivalry, that a six-time Grand Slam champion, who probably spent a lot of time at number 1 or 2 in the world, could be totally owned by a player ranked #271 who never had the ambition to get out of Challenger tournaments, the AHL of tennis competitions. But beyond that there are several ultra annoying directorial unforced errors, including the vast overuse of blaring music to hype scenes and turn up the intensity, to the point that sometimes the dialogue was inaudible. Then there was the slow, excruciating build up once the final match was underway. I found that tedious as hell--like stretching a rubber band to the breaking point for no particular reason at all. On top of which we have a very stupid open ending that tells us nothing that we don't already know but leaves several plot developments thoroughly up in the air. As well, somebody should have explained to Guadagnino that whoever touches the net automatically loses the point, or maybe that was just a detail he didn't care about anyway in his rush to an exasperating conclusion. Zendaya and Josh O'Connor are very good playing characters that I liked less and less as the movie progresses, and Mike Faist is good, also, with a character who has his share of flaws as well. But this movie pissed me off from both my perspectives, and, despite the occasionally snappy dialogue, I think basically Guadagnino sank his own ship here.

What I love about this assessment is that I agree with every point of fact here ... but while your reaction was negative, mine was overwhelmingly positive. The music, the sound, the overdirecting, the structure, the unlikability ... you're right. And I loved every minute of it.

"Exertions" is definitely the right word choice.

The sex is sex and the tennis is also sex and the arguments may be sex as well.

Snappy. Horny. Propulsive. Three actors just absolutely strutting. I skipped out of the theater smiling and laughing.

 

[CDJ]

Boy Kills World

just got back from the theater- very watchable film. Loses me a little in the last quarter but if you like a movie like Kill Bill then you will like this. Bill Skarsgaard is the lead with H. Jon Benjamin doing his inner monologue. Pretty funny, tons of fight scenes/action. Over the top gore.

7.0/10

 

[kihei]

The Fall Guy (2024) Directed by David Leitch 5A

Retired stuntman Colt (Ryan Gosling) finds himself embroiled in a nefarious plot involving a missing movie star and a desperate power play that could sink the movie that he is now helping get made, a movie directed by his former lover Jody (Emily Blunt) who is in the director's chair for the first time. The Fall Guy is basically an homage to stuntmen/stuntwomen, and if you don't expect it to be much else, you might have a good time watching it. There is a lot of action, some of which it is pretty amazing if not exactly groundbreaking. And Ryan Gosling is terrific, really fun to watch. His performance is a major-league movie star turn in the best way imaginable.

The good vibes stop with the script, though, which is little more than a patchwork attempt to string all the stunt sequences together in some more or less orderly fashion. It is the kind of lame plot that one might find in a fifth or sixth Pink Panther remake, and one of its main problems is that the only character that gets even slightly developed at all is Colt. The main victim of this inadequacy is Emily Blunt who is stuck with a character who is so underdeveloped that even Blunt's characteristic charm can't save her. It is a fill-in-the-blanks role that gives the actor nothing to work with just a merciless void. The stunts are fun, Gosling is fun, but the rest of the movie is the cinematic equivalent of the Maple Leafs' fourth line, an afterthought not deemed worthy of attention or concern by the people who created it.

 

[Chili]

The Hired Hand-1971

A man (Peter Fonda) who has been drifting around the west returns home to his wife (Verna Bloom) and daughter along with his travelling buddy (Warren Oates). She has had to take care of the farm since he left and is less than enthused to see him. He offers to become her hired hand. Slow paced western, a simple, well told story. Believe it's worth watching for the cinematography and score alone. A number of picture postcards shots. Vilmos Zsigmond was shooting his first major film and went on to become one of the best. The brilliant score was provided by Bruce Langhorne, a one man band, said he played around 40 different instruments. One of Sergio Leone's favorite westerns, probably my second favorite after Once Upon a Time in the West. Beautiful film.

Chimes at Midnight-1965

I've not been much of a fan of Shakespeare but this film is an interesting look at some of the bard's work. A few quotes of wisdom:

'Your means are slender and your waste is great'
'I would my means were greater and my waist slender'

'A friend in the court is better then a penny in the purse'
'(Soldier dying on the battlefield) ...thou hast rob me of my youth'
'(The King) Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown'

Supposed to have taken one character from several plays (Falstaff played by Orson Welles). He pals around with the son (Keith Baxter) of the King (John Gielgud who is excellent), making merry. There is an impressive battle scene. The insults are plentiful, many directed at someone's girth. The audio was poor in the print I watched, seems like a general complaint from when it was released. It's probably a film mostly for Shakespeare fans, must have been well done though because I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

Living-2022

I'm always interested when a classic is remade, am often left disappointed. Even if it's based on the same story, enjoy them most when it's a much different film and this one is, set in 1950's England vs Ikiru's Japan. The elements of Kurosawa's classic are here: bureaucracy, a man faced with illness finding some joy and a purpose in life. Bill Nighy as Mr Williams is splendid as the man facing a crossroads late in life (in Takashi Shimura's role in Ikiru). Moving scene when he sings an old favorite song. Aimee Lou Wood is very good as Miss Harris, a cheerful young friend Mr Williams is able to confide in. Great score and attention to period detail including the trains. I love both the original and this version, believe the story is timeless.

 

[The Macho King]

So Friday we had family movie night and watched  Paddington.

What a delightful movie. Very cute and a lot of legitimately funny bits. Solid performances - a real charmer and one of the best movies ive seen in a long time. Going to do the sequel next Friday.

8/10

Then last night my wife picked (500) Days of Summer.

If it wasn't for the Hall and Oates number in the middle I'd probably have a hard time finding a scene that didn't make me want to blow my head off. So I don't love the actors, I couldn't stand JGLs whininess the entire time, and Zooey gave me serious flashbacks to an ex of mine. The name of the love interest at the end of the movie created an eye roll so massive that if you could harness the energy you could power Manhattan.

2/10

And tonight I watched Paprika.

So im not a massive anime fan but Blank Check is covering the director so i went for it. And its pretty good. Very odd, and i refuse to believe that Nolan didnt rip 80% of this off for Inception. Plot is little aimless - a bit more of a vibes movie but i liked it. 8/10

 

[Rodgerwilco]

View attachment 869032
Living-2022

I'm always interested when a classic is remade, am often left disappointed. Even if it's based on the same story, enjoy them most when it's a much different film and this one is, set in 1950's England vs Ikiru's Japan. The elements of Kurosawa's classic are here: bureaucracy, a man faced with illness finding some joy and a purpose in life. Bill Nighy as Mr Williams is splendid as the man facing a crossroads late in life (in Takashi Shimura's role in Ikiru). Moving scene when he sings an old favorite song. Aimee Lou Wood is very good as Miss Harris, a cheerful young friend Mr Williams is able to confide in. Great score and attention to period detail including the trains. I love both the original and this version, believe the story is timeless.

Hadn't heard of this but will definitely will be checking this one out. Ikiru was surprisingly one of my favorite Kurosawa films.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

And tonight I watched Paprika.

So im not a massive anime fan but Blank Check is covering the director so i went for it. And its pretty good. Very odd, and i refuse to believe that Nolan didnt rip 80% of this off for Inception. Plot is little aimless - a bit more of a vibes movie but i liked it. 8/10

I'm also a loyal Blankie so I watched Millennium Actress this weekend. I think it's actually the first time since I started listening a few years ago that I rushed to watch the movie prior to the episode (not counting new releases). I've often seen most of what they're covering or it's something I'm not eager to watch but I'll listen to an episode anyway. I do go back and listen to old episodes after I watch something. (Just did The Abyss, Ishtar, Split and Glass in the past week or so).

Anyway. Thought Millennium Actress was pretty phenomenal. My immediate takeway was that I'm shocked someone hasn't tried to adapt it into a live action movie. (Griffin said the same but I swear I thought this before I listened). But it's a great concept and it feels like it would translate pretty well.

Elsewhere this weekend:
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Slight, but fun. Everyone seems like they were having a good time. I had a good time.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Shia LeBeouf's Jake may not be the dumbest movie character ever, but he's in the conversation. An attempt to recapture and perhaps reframe the previous movie but it all feels pretty toothless.

92 in the Shade. A grimy Florida noir about fishing boat rivals with a great cast (Warren Oates, Peter Fonda, Harry Dean Stanton, Margot Kidder, others). Quirky touches that make it seem like an Elmore Leonard story, though it isn't. These are all good things.

Raw Force (aka Kung-Fu Cannibals). Has a bit of a Jason Takes Manhattan problem in that it's largely about the journey to the aforementioned cannibals than the destination that is those cannibals. But it does have kung-fu, gratuitous nudity, cannibals and more. These are all also good things.

 

[The Macho King]

I'm also a loyal Blankie so I watched Millennium Actress this weekend. I think it's actually the first time since I started listening a few years ago that I rushed to watch the movie prior to the episode (not counting new releases). I've often seen most of what they're covering or it's something I'm not eager to watch but I'll listen to an episode anyway. I do go back and listen to old episodes after I watch something. (Just did The Abyss, Ishtar, Split and Glass in the past week or so).

Anyway. Though Millennium Actress was pretty phenomenal. My immediate takeway was that I'm shocked someone hasn't tried to adapt it into a live action movie. (Griffin said the same but I swear I thought this before I listened). But it's a great concept and it feels like it would translate pretty well.

Haven't listened to the last episode yet but I'm wondering if the kind of... surreal but not Lynchian surrealism is a little more daunting to adapt? It's weird - having now seen Paprika and Perfect Blue, there isn't really a live action director that plays in the same sort of playground that I've seen. Honestly Park Chan Wook might have the most similar vibe that I can think of (specifically thinking of some of the stuff in Lady Vengeance and Thirst that really play with that reality/non-reality imagery).

It does seem like his ideas (and even some shots) have been lifted pretty directly. IDK it's interesting.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Haven't listened to the last episode yet but I'm wondering if the kind of... surreal but not Lynchian surrealism is a little more daunting to adapt? It's weird - having now seen Paprika and Perfect Blue, there isn't really a live action director that plays in the same sort of playground that I've seen. Honestly Park Chan Wook might have the most similar vibe that I can think of (specifically thinking of some of the stuff in Lady Vengeance and Thirst that really play with that reality/non-reality imagery).

It does seem like his ideas (and even some shots) have been lifted pretty directly. IDK it's interesting.

I feel like Millennium Actress is a little more straightforward, at least compared to those two. It bends reality but the memories and dreams are largely movie scenes so it doesn't feel quite as surreal or trippy. I feel like movie people love to create movies within movies (Hail Ceasar, Babylon, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ) and the entire structure of this is basically a trip through Japanese movie history. Could easily see that porting over to America, though I'd be a little shocked if it kept the same ending.

 

[Voodoo Child]

I had a long flight and saw they had The Beekeeper and gave it a go and it was good fun; better than your average Statham joint but still a Statham joint. Lots of excellent setpieces and deaths (the elevator sequence was my favorite but the final sequence was also airtight).

Two quibbles though, one minor one major.

Minor: I don't like ceaseless exposition - but can you give me something other than a metaphor on bees as to why exactly JS is a human nuke here? MKUltra sleeper cell? Academy training from a young age? Former Black Ops team leader? Something aside from 'the Beekeeper protects the hive.', and yeah, Jeremy's Iron was great in this movie but still something tangible here.

And my major quibble is that there just felt like no stakes. Here's how it all went down.

1. The event that sent Statham HAM happens. She only had ten minutes of screentime but Phylicia Rashad is co-MVP here with Irons.
2. He consults his super secret network to find the people responsible.
3. He takes out some low level goons with ease.
4. He gets ambushed by low-level goons, takes them out with ease.
5. He takes out his successor with ease, in a pretty cool sequence but still, no danger.
6. He takes out an armed FBI SWAT team with ease.
6. He takes out some medium level goons - SEAL Team Six guys and ex-Black ops guys with ease.
7. He somehow infiltrates the private mansion of the PRESIDENT, where takes out a bunch of SS guys with ease.
8. The only fight where it seemed like he might get hurt was the one with that Russian mercenary but I still thought 'He's probably got this', he did have it.
9. I was worried the ending would be him killing but also getting fatally wounded by the villain (a coked-up zoomer who scams people - but the actor played the part well), but no, takes a bunch of people out with ease.

Okay maybe another minor complaint; Jason Statham has been the same guy in each movie since LS2SB (which was his first and best performance). You wanna win awards? Talk to your buddies like Michael Mann (JS was in Collateral) or Tarantino (Tarantino has expressed admiration). Go back to the theatre, do whatever, but this movie was good action, turn your brain off, light one up or crack a few and enjoy, but the stakes never felt high but I didn't head in expecting Rashomon here.

7.5/10; watchable and with some unforgettable scenes but not something appearing on any top-10 lists.

 

[The Macho King]

Decided to fire up an old standard - A Few Good Men. Talk about a movie they don't make anymore...

This movie brings up a few things for me. I want to go grab Rob Reiner and figure out what the f*** happened to him. I don't think this is a perfectly directed movie (note below), but it's really f***ing competently done and it's near the end of his absolutely legendary run.

I MISS MOVIE STARS! This is the perfect example of a movie you can't make today because movie stars don't exist. When you hire Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson and ask them to just be Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson for 2 hours and 10 minutes and you have a movie. The statement that offends so many MCU nerds is an absolute truth. Outside of literally still Tom Cruise and maybe Leo a little bit (and honestly maybe Zendaya but to a much lesser degree), I can't think of a single actor that can sell a movie by force of personality anymore. Ryan Gossling (who I like for the record) can't do that. Chris Pratt can't do that. A decade plus of such heavy studio control has left us with a terrible landscape for movie stars. IP is the new movie star and it f***ing sucks. Anyway moving on.

Jack Nicholson may be the most engaging screen presence in the history of film. What an insane career. He just dominates every scene he's in. Obviously this is one of his iconic performances, and it's earned. So good. Cruise is still in his transition era, but this is also a solid performance for him. There was that period where he tried to work with every auteur he could in the 90s and while I don't think he's the most gifted actor, he is certainly very good and has such natural charisma. Kevin Pollack was also in a nice little run of this era with this and The Usual Suspects in a few years with good supporting performances. Demi Moore was very solid here as well and it's easy to forget how good of a run she had for awhile - don't think she ever really made the shift to great actress but she has a fairly solid filmography in the early 90s.

So one weird note. The structure of this film is weird. You open with the code red. Then you get to the whole internal politics of Cruise getting assigned the case. And then... you get a flashback of the brass in Gitmo discussing Santiago? And then you go right back to the linear storytelling - this is the only nonlinear event, it isn't noted as a flashback, and then you just pick it up and keep going. There's a lot of exposition here and all of that, but it just feels like a lazy edit? Either do a reshoot to get that information out elsewhere or find a way to restructure the flashback (during the testimony later maybe?) Idk it's kind of jarring.

That being said? Still a perfect movie. 10/10.

 

[Elvis P]

American Fiction 10/10

This great film should have won Best Picture. It's free on Prime but worth renting.

 

[The Macho King]

Kept up with the nostalgia kick and watched  Tombstone.

God damnit I shouldn't have. This may be the worst directed film I kinda like that I can remember. Just no... vision. If it wasn't for Kilmer and to a lesser extent Russel and Booth, this thing would be unwatchable.

It kind of reminds me of the original Willy Wonka where it all hangs on Wilder, but this is even more thin. Kilmer is undeniable, Russell delivers his Macho lines just fine but man he's struggling too. Loaded cast but needed someone to trim the script.

5/10

Edit: Just thinking about this more now that I'm on my computer and not my phone I can actually type. Like... why have a soundstage scene with bad lighting and Russell walking toward a camera with no one else on set shooting toward the camera? Like it feels like they were doing promo shots for Entertainment Weekly and the director said "f*** it let's put it in."

The pacing is insane. The first half feels like it's building to something, but even then there is so much energy putting flavor into the town that it eventually just kind of blends together. Like... Brandon Priestly (I think?) character is in like two scenes and like... other than liking art what does he serve? He doesn't even add depth - he just is a semi-recognizable face thrown in for a few scenes and doesn't do anything. The night where the cowboys kill Morgan - we have his brother and his wife getting shot at, so he leaves the relative safety of everyone to play pool alone away from everyone with a giant glass window at his back? What the f*** is up with Earp's marriage (was it a marriage?). We find out at the end that Mattie dies and it's clearly not a happy relationship but also... she is just kind of dealt with off screen? And during the climax of his brother dying and Earp weeping - is that the time to deal with the love triangle? No one's reactions or behavior makes sense there.

There are a lot of other terrible scenes, and there seems no interest in keeping track of how many bullets a six shooter can shoot before it runs out. And the scene at the creek where he just walks out and kills Booth - no one acts with any damn common sense.

I love Kurt Russell. I f***ing love him. I want to make that absolutely clear. But when I say he does any good in this movie I say that because I love him and I can't openly admit to anything else. The fact is I don't think he has a f***ing thing to work with but he's still not good in it. Biehl, Booth, and Kilmer are the only performances that anchor the film at all, and only Kilmer's is good enough to elevate it beyond it's terrible script and directing.

Ugh... I should not have watched this again. It was so disappointing. That being said it is impossible to overrate Kilmer's performance in this. It's worth watching just for him.